Dr Gerben Bakker SAR 6.04

This course is available on the BSc in Accounting and Finance, BSc in Economic History, BSc in Economic History and Geography, BSc in Economic History with Economics, BSc in Economics, BSc in Economics and Economic History, BSc in Economics with Economic History, BSc in Management and Diploma in Accounting and Finance. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

The course examines the successes and failures of British business and industry, with an emphasis on the post-World War II period. It assesses many of the hypotheses on why the UK economy grew more slowly than other OECD nations during this period. Explanations of relative economic decline are examined in the context of comparisons with other European nations and with the US, Japan and more recently China. The course is organised to combine major economic and political themes, such as de-industrialisation, globalisation, education and training, management organisation and practices, labour relations, and Britain’s relationship with the EEC/EU, with case studies of industries as diverse as textiles, motors, banking, pharmaceuticals, and steel. By interacting themes and case studies, students get a sense of how national policies can affect business opportunities, and how governments can both aid and harm business. The impact of government policies such as nationalisation/privatisation, regional policy and competition are also examined in this context. The primary focus is on the post-World War II period, including current changes in performance, but the historical roots of Britain's recent performance are also considered.

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 40 hours across Autumn and Winter Term.

This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of AT and WT.

During the course students are expected to write three essays or equivalent pieces of written work.

The main work used in the course consist of the relevant chapters in The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain: Vol. II, 1870-2010 (2014) and some chapters from earlier editions, supplemented by Sir Geoffrey Owen, From Empire to Europe: The Decline and Revival of British Industry since the Second World War (2000).

The following are also useful: Stephen Broadberry, The productivity race: British manufacturing in international perspective 1850-1990 (1997); B Elbaum & W Lazonick (Eds), The Decline of the British Economy (1986); Mansel Blackford, The rise of modern business: Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Japan, and China (2008); George Symeonidis, The Effects of Competition: Cartel Policy and the Evolution of Strategy and Structure in British Industry (MIT Press, 2001); Gerben Bakker, “Soft Power: The Media Industries in Britain since 1870,” in R. Floud, J. Humphries and P. Johnson eds., The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain: Vol. II, 1870-2010 (2014), 416-447.

Take-home assessment (100%) in the ST.